Dennis Wilson

The drummer who wrote songs

Dennis Carl Wilson was born on December 4, 1944, the middle brother of Brian and Carl Wilson. The Beach Boys officially formed in late 1961, and Dennis was their drummer. He played on early hits including I Get Around, Fun, Fun, Fun and Don't Worry Baby, so the idea that studio players always replaced him is a misconception.

His songwriting arrived in 1968. Little Bird, issued in April as the B-side of the Friends single, was his first major released composition, and he wrote it and Be Still with the poet Stephen Kalinich. The album 20/20, in February 1969, marked his emergence as a producer. On Sunflower in August 1970 he had four songs, among them Forever and Slip On Through.

An album that waited

In the early 1970s Wilson recorded material with the Beach Boys touring musician Daryl Dragon for a solo album whose working titles included Freckles, Poops and Hubba Hubba. It was never finished, and tracks from it reached listeners only in 2021, on the box set Feel Flows. Other songs meant for it went to the group instead: Make it Good and Old Movie, retitled Cuddle Up, on Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" in 1972, and Steamboat and Only with You on Holland in 1973. A hand injury in June 1971 kept him from drumming for some time, and Ricky Fataar played drums for the group between 1972 and 1974.

By 1977 Wilson had a stockpile of songs. He approached James William Guercio, owner of Caribou Records, who asked for a structured recording process and then signed him to a two-album contract.

Pacific Ocean Blue

Pacific Ocean Blue was recorded mostly at the Beach Boys' own Brother Studios in Santa Monica between 1976 and 1977, and Caribou released it on August 22, 1977. Wilson and his friend Gregg Jakobson produced it, and Jakobson co-wrote half of its twelve songs. Engineers Earle Mankey, John Hanlon and Steve Moffitt handled the technical work. Session players included Hal Blaine, Billy Hinsche, James Jamerson, Ricky Fataar and Bobby Figueroa, and Wilson led them mostly from a Steinway piano or a Fender Rhodes.

Carl Wilson helped write River Song, whose gospel choir lifts the album's opening, and Rainbows, which Kalinich co-wrote. Hinsche said Carl was the most present and supportive of the Beach Boys at the sessions, and that he saw none of Mike, Al or Brian there. Among the quieter songs are Thoughts of You, You and I and Dreamer.

The album peaked at No. 96 on the Billboard chart in a twelve-week run and missed the UK chart. Its two singles, River Song and You and I, did not chart. A planned solo tour was cancelled when the label withdrew support, though Wilson played songs from the album in half-hour sets before some Beach Boys shows.

Bambu and the end of the story

The follow-up, Bambu, began in 1978 at Brother Studios with Carli Muñoz as songwriter and producer. It stalled for lack of financing and because of simultaneous Beach Boys projects, and was never completed. Two of its songs, Love Surrounds Me and Baby Blue, went to the Beach Boys' L.A. (Light Album) in 1979. Wilson died on December 28, 1983, at the age of 39.

Out of print, then a classic

The 1991 CD of Pacific Ocean Blue went out of print within a year, and the album was virtually unavailable for more than fifteen years. Legacy Recordings issued a two-disc 30th anniversary edition on June 17, 2008, with the Bambu material as a second disc. It entered the UK chart at No. 16, and Rolling Stone and Mojo both voted it Reissue of the Year. Pitchfork's Mike Orme called the album a "raw, bluesy masterpiece". Uncut's Peter Paphides wrote that its reputation had risen on praise from fans such as The Verve, Primal Scream and The Charlatans.

Jakobson told Uncut in 2017 that the album is a classic and timeless. It appears in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Al Jardine of the Beach Boys said he liked Dennis's music better than some of the group's own. In December 2018, Nik Ewing of Local Natives, with Cults, Nico Segal and Pop Etc, covered the whole album under the name Chewing.